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| -Short Attention Span Theater- |
| Driver Feared Death in 125 Mph Runaway Car |
| 2004-10-05 |
| Remember. When driving with death, buckle up. A mobile phone call may have saved the life of a panic-stricken French driver who found himself hurtling down a motorway at 125 mph but unable to slow down because of a mystery fault with his luxury saloon car. I had a saloon car once. It got me to one and back and sometimes served as an actual saloon... The driver called police to say the cruise control of his Renault Vel Satis had jammed while overtaking a lorry, and that all attempts to brake or put the automatic into neutral had failed, police said Tuesday. Oh, a Renault. That explains a lot. The driver became increasingly sure he was about to die as his top-of-the-range model raced toward a toll station on the A71 motorway between Bourges and Clermont-Ferrand, the police officer who took the call Sunday said. "He was panicking. He was doing between 180 kph and 200 kph (110 mph to 125 mph) all the time. He was doing 140 kph (87 mph) and then the car just accelerated away on its own," officer Patrick Majerus said. Mon dieux!Ze Saloon Car! Eeeet haz gone bearsairk! The driver, Hicham Dequiedt, veered left and right to avoid traffic and even switched at times to the hard shoulder reserved for rescue vehicles, in order to avoid vehicles in his path. "He thought he was finished. I'm not surprised he was scared -- it's not easy to go through a toll station at 200 kph, the gap is pretty tight," Majerus said. Never know unless you try... Police attempting to escort him along the motorway found they were quickly overtaken. Dequiedt eventually managed to cut the engine and came to a halt around 12 miles from the toll station, which had been evacuated as a precaution. Oh, c'mon! 12 miles! Jeez, that was close! Renault boss Louis Schweitzer said he was mystified by the incident, telling LCI television: "As its been described to me, this incident surprises me and seems highly improbable." Doesn't surprise me have driven one of your cars. The Renault P.O.S. I believe it was called... A spokesman said Renault experts were inspecting the electronic speed control, brakes and automatic gearbox of the car. The results should be known by early Wednesday. Ve have come to ze conclusion...he was dronk |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #6 How about turning OFF the cruise control? The button for my truck's CC is right on the steering wheel. |
| Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2004-10-06 1:14:00 AM |
| #5 Once my engine overspeeded right in front of a taco shop shop.Emptied the joint. |
| Posted by: crazyhorse 2004-10-05 11:42:36 PM |
| #4 He's French, ZF. There was nobody from the government in the car to do it for him... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2004-10-05 10:19:05 PM |
| #3 I thought the trick was to get it in neutral. What's the fuss? |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2004-10-05 9:41:23 PM |
| #2 Cripes - I had my F150 at 97 on the Grapevine and was getting passed left and right |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-10-05 9:04:28 PM |
| #1 125 MPH? That's it? Pantywaist... |
| Posted by: Raj 2004-10-05 9:02:09 PM |